“You don’t have to stay, you know,” he said softly as I dug through my purse for the keys.
I grinned. “I don’t? Oh good.”
I turned to walk away, but Steve reached out, running his hand along my arm until he could grab my hand. “But I hope you do,” he added.
I didn’t know what my plans were, but I did know I had no intention of going far. Not anymore. Unlocking the door with my free hand and pushing it open, I was just about to tell him so when something furry darted between my legs and jumped up onto Steve.
“Captain!” I shouted and reached out, barely managing to catch Steve before he was knocked to the ground. “Bad dog!”
But Steve lowered himself to his knees and let the dog frantically lick his face as he rubbed his neck. “Don’t listen to the mean lady,” he said in a ridiculous baby voice that left me standing there with wide eyes. Never in a million years would I have expected that tone from the likes of Steve Evans. “You’re a very, very good dog, aren’t you?”
“He lives up to his name,” I said with a small smile. If not for that pup waking me up, I might not have found Steve in time to save him. “You could call him a hero.”
Though he still stroked the dog’s golden fur, Steve looked up at me with his mouth in a thin line and that wrinkle between his eyebrows that seemed to be there every time he looked at me now. “I disagree,” he said.
“That dog saved your life,” I argued.
“You saved my life, Lissa.”
My heart pounding in my ears and my face burning, I hurried deeper into the apartment, Steve right behind me. The dog had been a nice distraction, but eventually we were going to have to talk about what was going to happen with the two of us. I would have to figure out exactly why my chest felt so tight and why I couldn’t seem to get myself to look away from the man for more than a few seconds. I had to figure out if Brennon was right.
But first I had to breathe. Find some way to build a little courage.
“You need to take your meds,” I said, pulling the bottle from my purse and filling a glass with water.
Steve swallowed the pills without complaint, but he kept his eyes on me. I could sense words on the tip of his tongue, and I wasn’t sure which topic he would choose. I wasn’t sure which would be easiest, though the longer I looked into his face, the more I realized the future wasn’t all that hard to figure out. There was something special about Steve. Something about the way he made me feel like I was important and valuable and worth listening to. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if there was anyone in the world who had ever made me feel like I mattered as much as this man did.
How could I have doubted my feelings for him?
“You will stay, won’t you?” The poor guy actually looked a little afraid as he asked that question, though he tried to cover it up by filling up his glass again.
I couldn’t help but grin, which made all of it easier to stomach. I definitely didn’t like being so serious all the time, and I decided to lighten the mood. Steve’s life was dark enough already. “I dunno,” I said as casually as I could manage. “I have a pretty good offer at my old job. I could go back to having my boss spend every meeting staring at my chest and make six figures just standing there looking pretty.”
I couldn’t have planned it better. Steve choked halfway through taking a sip of water, and his spit take spewed all over Captain, who cowered a little in alarm. He coughed a couple of times, pressing a hand to his stitches, and then he gasped, “Six fi—Lissa, why aren’t you on a plane right now?”
I burst out laughing, grabbing a kitchen towel and tossing it over Steve’s head, and then I said the only definite thing I knew when it came to my career: “I don’t care about the money.” Besides, I was pretty sure there was no way Mikaelson could actually offer me double my previous salary, no matter what he promised. “Nothing’s changed. I want what I do to mean something, and I want to actually enjoy it.”
He wasn’t convinced, and as he stood there holding the towel, he looked ready to jump into a long argument about why I was making a mistake by not plugging my phone in to charge so I could call Cal and tell him I was coming to save his sorry butt from total ruin.
“I’d much rather be here,” I told him and placed my hand on his stubbly cheek.
He immediately put his hand over mine, myriad emotions flitting rapidly across his face as his eyes searched the dimness of his sight for something. He reached up, carefully brushing his fingers across my nose and cheeks, taking in as many of my features as he could. “I wish I could see you,” he whispered, looking completely miserable. “Even just a little bit.”
I had no idea if that was even possible, but that wasn’t about to stop me from trying. Taking both his hands, I led him close to the window where sunlight streamed in, almost blinding as I put his back to the glass so the light was completely on my face. Then I held my breath, because as much as I hated how often people called me pretty, I desperately hoped he thought so.
Steve was silent for a long time, his eyes roving every inch of my face in search of details. He kept leaning closer, I kept losing my ability to think rationally, and when he opened his mouth, his soft words nearly undid me. “Why didn’t you tell me you were beautiful, Lissa?” he asked.
“I never really thought I was,” I replied. No matter what people said.
Sliding his hands up my arms and to my neck, he gently cradled my face as he kept moving closer. “And here I was thinking you were smart,” he whispered, and his lips brushed mine.
Sudden pounding on the door nearly gave me a heart attack. Jumping back, I stared at the front door as the pounding continued, a deafening drumming on steel as someone very aggressively thumped their fist against the surface.
“Who…?” Steve asked, his eyes narrow and his fists clenched. I feel ya, buddy.
“I’ll just go see who that is,” I said, though it was more of a gasp than a full sentence. My heart was still racing by the time I got to the door and peeked through the peephole. The man on the other side was so far from anyone I expected to see that for a second, I just stood there, trying to understand.
But then I realized he would only keep knocking until I opened the door, so I turned the handle and slowly pulled the door open. “Seth?”
My brother stood there as tall as ever, his fist still in the air and his expression the same as mine probably was. “Lissa? What are…” He stiffened, glancing from Brennon’s door to Catherine’s, and then his confusion morphed into pure, unadulterated anger. “Oh, I’m going to kill him,” he growled and shoved his way past me into the apartment. “Ashworth! Brennon Ashworth, you get your sorry ass out here before I come find you so you can explain why you thought it was a good idea to go after my sister.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth, but even that couldn’t stop me from laughing. I knew Seth was protective, and I loved that about him. But boy did he know how to overreact. “Seth,” I said between laughs, “Brennon’s not here.” And when Seth turned to me, murder in his eyes, I realized Steve had grabbed Captain and was practically hiding behind the fridge.
I’d never laughed so hard in my life. Who needed Pilates when I had men in my life to give me the best ab workout ever?
By the time I could breathe again, Seth had folded his arms and stood in the center of the apartment, his eyes fixed on me so intently that I could only imagine the terror he’d struck into his enemies when he’d gone out on missions with the Special Forces. “Lissa,” he said when my laughter finally died. He practically begged for an explanation with that one word.
Closing the door, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him in the tightest hug I could manage. “You are literally the best brother in the world,” I told him, though he still stood tense and refused to hug me back until I explained. “You have no idea what it means to have someone who isn’t my mom be worried about me.”
“Your phone call,” Seth said, his voice strained. “I tried calling,
but it went straight to voicemail. For hours. I was worried.”
“My phone died,” I told him. “I was at the hospital looking after someone, so I couldn’t charge it.” Guilt shot into my stomach, twisting it in knots again as I thought about what my message must have done to him. “You didn’t have to cut your honeymoon short, Seth. I shouldn’t have even called.”
He finally unfolded his arms so he could wrap them around my shoulders, grunting a little before he said, “Milton sent paparazzi. Catherine’s father is nothing if not persistent, and he was hoping to catch some sort of scandal.”
Poor Catherine. “How did you know it was him?” I asked.
Seth smirked. “Turns out paparazzi are never very loyal to the people who hire them, so it didn’t take a lot of persuasion.” That or they were smart enough to know not to mess with the likes of my brother. “Anyway…” Clearing his throat, he glanced around the apartment. “What are you doing over here, Lissa?” he asked, and his eyes landed on Steve in the kitchen. His voice immediately darkened as he kept talking to me. “I saw your stuff over at our place, but you weren’t there. So I came over here to see if Brennon had seen you before I went to the police, and here you are.”
Here I was. And it was a long explanation for why that was.
“She was helping me,” Steve said and stepped forward. He very nearly managed to sound normal, but there was a slight tremor of fear in his voice. He would have been an idiot to not be at least a little intimidated by my brother, though he tried to hide it with a tight smile. “I’m, uh, Steve Evans,” he said, holding out his hand. “Brennon’s roommate.”
Though Seth shook Steve’s hand, he pulled his eyebrows together and turned to me as if hoping for some clarification. “I didn’t know Ashworth had a roommate,” he said after a moment.
I was about to reply when I saw something shift in Steve’s expression. He seemed to be sizing Seth up, though I doubted he could see much outside of my brother’s sheer bulk. But his uncertain expression changed over the course of a few seconds, so instead of standing there somewhat nervous, now Steve looked like a man with a plan.
I had the sudden mental image of Steve bungee jumping off a bridge in Switzerland without hesitation, and I realized Seth had become a challenge. One Steve was eager to conquer. But what did that mean?
Still holding onto Seth’s hand, Steve shook it a little longer than necessary as he said, “You must be the famous Seth Hastings. Lissa has said so much about you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get a good look at you.” And then he slammed his palm right into Seth’s nose and splayed his fingers across his face.
While Seth tensed and only barely kept himself from attacking, either realizing Steve was blind or simply too stunned to respond, I bit my lip against the laugh that bubbled up inside me. Steve clearly knew he was being ridiculous as he felt around Seth’s face, but he was doing a good job of acting entirely serious, as if he could actually get a sense of his features by touching him.
“I can see the family resemblance,” Steve said and dropped his hand back to his side, where Captain dutifully waited and gave his fingers a quick lick.
And Seth turned to me, giving me a look that was so easy to read: Is this guy for real? he was asking me, but every bit of tension had disappeared from his shoulders despite his slightly concerned expression.
Brennon hadn’t been kidding when he said Steve was smart. Now that Seth thought Steve was an absolute idiot, most of his protectiveness had slipped away, leaving the room much calmer than it had been before. And based on the grin Steve was giving me from just beyond Seth’s sightline, Seth had reacted exactly as he hoped.
Seth was an incredible big brother, but if his reaction to the idea of me dating Brennon was any indication, he was a bit too protective. I was an adult and could make my own decisions, even if they weren’t always the best ones. Particularly in this instance—who I fell in love with—I didn’t need Seth trying to step in and decide what was best for me. I knew me, and I knew where I could trust my heart.
Steve had just given me a way to find out if this thing between us was lasting, without so much pressure from the outside.
I nearly fell apart, my heart picking up its abnormal pace again for a very different reason than from being startled. He thought he had things all figured out, did he? I would have to prove him wrong before he got too much power, and an idea sparked in my mind out of nowhere. Try to charm your way through this one, Steve Evans. “I’m thinking about opening up a restaurant here in San Francisco,” I said.
Both men turned to me in surprise, and while Seth pondered the idea with interest, Steve just stared at me like I’d said something absolutely outlandish. He seemed to still be processing my words, as if afraid he had heard them wrong, and that forehead wrinkle of his was back, even if he was having a hard time focusing on me. Clearly I confused the man, a lot, and I was rather proud of myself for being able to throw the likes of Steve Evans off his game.
I grinned. “Steve, of course, would be my head chef.”
If only he had been drinking water so I could repeat his earlier spit take. Instead, he just coughed, grabbing the kitchen counter for support as he tried to protect his stitches.
“A restaurant, huh?” Seth asked, his focus on Steve out of the corner of his eye even though he kept his gaze on me. “You’ve always wanted to do that, haven’t you?”
I shrugged. I wanted to help Steve stand upright again, but I knew I had to ease Seth into this one. Steve may have lessened the pressure considerably, but I had to tread carefully when it came to gentlemen callers. “I think I’m starting to figure out what to do with my life,” I said. “I may have freaked out a little prematurely yesterday.”
“I don’t know much about running a business,” Seth said as his smile grew, “but I’m sure Indie and Matthew have a few pointers. That kid has managed to turn a dump into a thriving enterprise in less than six months.”
Steve had mostly recovered, but he was looking at me with a hundred different emotions on his face, primarily a mix of confusion, fear, and hope. I needed to talk to him, but to do that I needed to make Seth leave.
“I’ll be sure to ask them,” I said and put my hand on Seth’s back, giving him a gentle nudge toward the door. “By the way, I doubt Matthew would like it if he knew you called him a kid. Isn’t he older than you?”
Seth’s laugh echoed in the apartment, and luckily he had gotten the hint and was moving toward the door of his own accord. “Only by a few years,” he said, giving me a wink. “But that’s why I do it. It’s fun to watch him try to look angry, but he’s like those little dogs who try to be all big and tough but only come across as feisty and adorable.”
“You’re the worst.”
“You love me anyway.”
I smiled, watching him cross the hall and feeling a rush of happiness that couldn’t fully cover my trepidation about my upcoming conversation with Steve. “You know I do,” I said.
As he reached his door, Seth paused and glanced back, though his focus was behind me. Something had just clicked in his mind, it seemed, and he narrowed his eyes as he tried to see past me where Steve was standing. “He was just messing with me, wasn’t he?” he growled. He clearly didn’t like that idea, and he definitely didn’t like it when I grinned in response. “Lissa,” he began, but I closed the door before he could say his oncoming threat. He’d be fine, and eventually he would grow to like Steve.
Speaking of… I could feel Steve’s gaze even before I turned around, burning into my back as I worked up the courage to look at him again. This was the hard part.
“What was that?” he asked.
I knew what he meant, but I still needed some time to think this through. “That was my dear big brother, Seth Hastings,” I said. “I thought you knew that.”
“Lissa.” He still gripped the counter, his knuckles white. Apparently, he cared a lot about this particular topic of conversation, and I had no intention of causing him more pain
than I already had, emotional or physical. He deserved better.
“I meant it,” I said. “The restaurant.” At least I was pretty sure I did, as long as I could convince myself it wasn’t some crazy whim, even if that was exactly what it was. The longer I stood there and imagined it, the wider my smile grew. How had it taken me so long to come to this conclusion when it had been right in front of me all along?
Steve, however, looked almost sick. The dog even nudged his nose against his leg in concern. “Are you insane?” he asked quietly. “You can’t waste your time on some childhood dream when I can’t even see what I’m cooking.”
“Maybe. But you’re not the only one who had dreams in the past.”
That hit him harder than I expected, and if I hadn’t stepped forward and grabbed hold of his arm to keep him steady, I was pretty sure he might have collapsed right there. Helping him to the couch, I sat next to him and gripped his hand.
“Look,” I said, “ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be just like my mom. I spent a lot of nights in her kitchen at whatever restaurant she was working, pretending to do homework while I watched her fly around the kitchen making people happy one plate at a time. But I knew I couldn’t afford culinary school, and my mom didn’t want me working late hours like I inevitably would. If I wanted to be independent, I had to go with something more secure, so I chose finance. And I’ve regretted every minute of it.”
He shook his head, his eyes on the ground and his eyebrows pulled close together. “Lissa, you have to be logical here.”
I was being logical. But more importantly, I was also following my gut, something I hadn’t had the luxury of doing for a long time. Starting a restaurant just felt right, but no amount of money knowledge or business acumen could make it happen if I didn’t have food to serve. “Steve,” I said firmly, and I gently turned his face so he was looking at me. “I’m going to go through with this whether you help me or not because it’s what I want to do. But it’s been years since I cooked with my mom, and I can’t exactly search for world recipes on the internet and get them right. I need your help.”
In Front of Me Page 17